The tallest of animals, giraffes can be found browsing the tree canopy of tropical Africa's wooded grasslands. A male giraffe can be 18 feet (5.5 m) from hoof to crown with a neck up to 7 feet (2.1 m) long. However, a giraffe's body is relatively short, marked with large, angular, sandy to chestnut spots closely spaced on a lighter background. Giraffes travel in small herds led by a male and can outrun most enemies, some of which they can kill with a single kick. How tall is a newborn giraffe?More...

"The Met" is the foremost repository of art in the US, with a collection of more than two million works of art. Established for the purpose of encouraging the study of fine art, the museum opened in 1872 with just one stone sarcophagus and 174 paintings. However, the collection quickly outgrew its gallery space and in 1880 was moved to its iconic present-day location on the eastern edge of Central Park. In recent decades, the Met has used what controversial practice to acquire high-quality art?More...

Adams was an American photographer famous for his black-and-white landscape photographs and for his many books about photography, including a series of technical instruction manuals: The Camera, The Negative, and The Print. He invented the "zone system," a technique for determining optimal film exposure and development, and advocated a more sharply focused and composed style of photography than was in vogue at the time. What initially spurred his interest in photography?More...

Quotation of the Day

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.

The passage of Public Law 90-363 in 1968, also known as the "Monday Holiday Law," changed the observance of Washington's Birthday from February 22 to the third Monday in February. Because it occurs so soon after Lincoln's Birthday, many states—such as Hawaii, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Wyoming—combine the two holidays and call it Presidents' Day or Washington-Lincoln Day. Some regard it as a day to honor all former presidents of the United States. More...

Matching people up in love and in life is a particularly rewarding pastime. Researchers found that "matchmakers"—people who arrange romantic, social, and professional relationships between others—derive a great deal of satisfaction from doing so. Those who frequently arrange successful matches tend to be happier and have a greater sense of well-being. The most emotionally rewarding matches for matchmakers are the ones that are most unlikely. Simply arranging a match appears to be reward enough; external rewards, like payment, actually diminish the motivation to engage in matchmaking.More...

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